How can the Dharma benefit our lives today? Drawing upon three decades of experience with Western students, Tarthang Tulku discusses issues important to everyone interested in the transmission of Buddhism to western lands. In Mind over Matter, he reviews the differences between traditional and Western views of Dharma study and practice and examines how these differences complicate our efforts to embody the teachings in a meaningful way. Chapters on the attitudes toward authority, academic presentations of Buddhism, and the therapeutic approach clarify deeply ingrained patterns in Western culture that challenge a successful transmission of the teachings.Since these patterns can inhibit understanding, is it possible to circumvent them? Will adopting the outer forms of the Dharma be sufficient to penetrate the barriers of conditioning? Are there ways to go to the heart of the matter and encourage the inner meaning of Dharma to emerge organically through awareness, concentration, and the skillful application of energy? Addressing these questions, Mind over Matter considers the value of Dharma work as a practical training in selfless action that benefits self and others while opening pathways to understanding the deeper meaning of Dharma.Mind over Matter, Tarthang Tulku, Dharma Publishing, 212 pages, $17.95